Modern + Contemporary Design 
28 March 2006
Modern + Contemporary Design 
259

Walter Dorwin Teague

Nocturne radio, model #1186

Sparton Corporation
USA, 1936
mirrored peach glass, satin chrome-plated steel, lacquered wood 46 h × 43¼ w × 14 d in (117 × 110 × 36 cm)
estimate: $70,000–90,000
result: $72,000
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Teague's Nocturne radio was the most daring of the four radios Teague designed for the Sparton Corporation. Standing nearly four feet high, the radio was meant to be the focal point of a hotel lobby, nightclub, or other public space. The high price of the radio, $350 in 1936, combined with the economic depression of time resulted in very few models being sold. The Nocturne radio, especially in this rare color, is an outstanding icon of American Art Deco.
provenance: Ed Sage, New Mexico Private collection
literature: The Machine Age in America 1918-1941, Brooklyn Museum of Art, pg. 26 Modernism: Modernist Design 1880-1940, Duncan, pg. 216

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